Slade panted while resting on his knees.
Near doubling over from exhaustion, Slade who had trained himself to go past his limits keenly felt them right now.
It was a pain all manners of the word as the lactic acid build up in his body wreaked havoc throughout the red flesh.
It was honestly a boon to be undead since there were no physical pains to be felt if there wasn't a proper body to feel pain with.
'Make sure to kill undead targets immediately before they start to run.'
Noting down that thought into his head, Slade keenly felt how much of a pain it was to chase after an undead dedicated to running away.
Even more so since the undead he was chasing after was a Wretched Queen, a much more dangerous and enhanced being than the normal undead.
'Just die already'
Axing the head of the struggling Wretched Queen underneath his foot, the mutilated body twitched as the axe head finally hacked off the rest of the cartilage that was holding the head in place.
Snapping away, the taut flesh snapped apart and the undead twitched in a last defiant post post mortem dance.
'Bloody hell that was hard.'
Letting out a sigh, Slade rubbed the back of his neck as the golden light announcing his advancement enshrouded his body and pushed away any enemies in the surroundings.
Sadly there were no such enemies to be pushed away in the surroundings.
And since the chase, Slade got slightly used to the fighting on the run, something he wasn't exactly used to.
Recalling how he had to leap from one foot and bicycle kick an undead because it was in the way, Slade felt a distinct throbbing in his leg.
'I also got used to that.'
Holding the axe in hand, the wooden grip in his hands creaked underneath his enhance grip.
Manifesting flames out of the axe, it was beautiful.
The intensity of the flames could be controlled as well.
It was a useful feature he learnt on the run and could be definitely optimized as it was mostly used to get rid of the flying quills whistling through the air.
And since the optimized Slash skill could now be used without a wrath cost although there was an inability to gain Wrath.
It wasn't really a bad thing.
Stomping the head of the wretched queen again, Slade let out a long tired sigh as his body soon recovered from the long and hard oxygen debt.
[You have gained 3 Strength]
[You have gained 1 dexterity]
[You have gained 1 Intelligence]
[You have gained 2 Vitality]
Looking at his stats, the skill menu was on the next step of the list as he stared at the skill board while he put some blue pants with the prefix reptilian into his inventory.
There really was no difference in the stats when the reptilian prefix was on it as he already knew they gave regeneration.
[Sweep slash]
Looking at the objectives they stated.
[Use the old ruins waypoint]
'How the hell do I use it again'
And to [Talk to Captain Rumford in new Tristam]
'I should have that drink with him when we get there.'
Having those thoughts, Slade slowly walked forwards with steady steps, head facing upwards.
Slade pondered on his way to the large circle of stones with a series of carvings on them that glowed a blue light with his head in the sky.
Staring at the blue circle which flickered with a new light now that the dark energy suppressing it had been destroyed, he held his axe in hand and stepped into it.
And...
Nothing happened.
Blinking awkwardly in place, Slade stared at his feet upon of which he stood in the centre of the magic waypoint.
'...'
'How the hell do I use this thing?'
Being reminded of his times when his friends son gave him a mobile touch screen, Slade crouched down and stared at the waypoint with a penetrating gaze.
"How the hell are you supposed to get me to New Tristam-"
A bright blue light suddenly engulfed him as the waypoint suddenly swallowed him whole with the magic stored within it.
---
In New Tristam.
Leah let out a tired sigh as she silently mulled over her diary in one of the rooms of the inn.
Fiddling with the coal quill, her mind wandered to the event near the beginning of the day.
The sky was still dark without an iota of light sneaking through the shroud of dark clouds, but it was still day since the day creatures were still out and about.
But that didn't take away the absurdity of the situation.
After returning from the cathedral all shell shocked, she had vowed in her heart to go into the depths of hell to retrieve her grandfather, no matter how long it takes.
Even if she burnt to a crisp, she would still make that decision to save her grandfather no matter how annoying he may be.
Having thought of that, it still didn't take care of the strangeness that was the middle of the day.
Firstly, outside of the usual sounds of fighting occurring outside of the town.
A stranger, a rarity in these parts, had appeared in these trying times.
Even rarer, the visitor was a Crusader of the Zakarum faith.
But oddly enough, the reason for their appearance was justifiable.
Attracted by the star that fell on Tristam Cathedral, it was only right that the Crusader attracted by the phenomenon would go find the only survivor of the event.
Leah herself.
Of course, the wounded in the tavern being turned into undead was a surprise, but the Crusader reacted with an even greater fervour and quickly dispatched all of them.
After that, although she would like some help in finding her grandfather, she didn't know the man well enough to enlist his help.
There was little to no guarantee that the man would not just abandon her midway when things got to tough and she had to strive the rest of the way herself.
And besides, he didn't seem incredibly strong as the only things that had happened was a caving in of the skull of slightly enhanced human beings.
Most definitely weaker than the ones that she would much rather not face when finding her grandfather.
'Thank goodness for those hunting lessons.'
Thanking her father for teaching hunting tactics at a young age, Leah sighed and coontinued to scribble on her notebook.
The edge of the quill dipped in black ink dragged on the paper as the feather danced on the edge of the page.
Staring at the flowing lines, his face came to mind.
Pausing for a moment, she began to draw the image from memory.
As she did so underneath the light of the lamp, the door behind her resounded with a knocking sound.
"...Miss Leah?"
It was the voice of an unknown man, but nevertheless, Leah seemed familiar with it.
"Did the captain send you? Tell him I won't change my mind even if he personally comes to talk to me."
Placing the quill down, she stared at the pages which have been covered with a series of neat handwriting while the voice of the militiaman resounded from beyond it once again.
"...I understand miss Leah, but the Captain told me to tell you that there is someone you might want to meet."
"And who-" Just as she was about to question the militia man, a figure suddenly resurfaced in her memories.
"Oh, is it the crusader?"
"Yes it is, and he just returned from his brief excursion, he's talking to the captain just now."
Hearing those words, she moved her chair against the wooden floor while busily moving her hands.
'Why is he talking to the captain?'
The Captain Rumford in her memories was a slightly distant figure, despite belonging in the small town that was New Tristam where everyone knew everyone.
Rumford seemed slightly distant in his personality and dedicated a majority of his time to his work of guarding the town.
A rather important job when the dead were rising and attacking in droves.
As she wondered about those things, she donned her hunting bow and hunting boots while her diary went straight into her bosom pocket.
Opening the door, the militia man respectfully moved out of the way so that she could close the door behind her, at which point as she descended the stairs.
Opening the door of the Slaughtered Calf she was greeted by the sight of the Crusader talking to the Captain while blood covered them head to toe.
But besides just standing there covered in a light layer of blood, he was rather... unnerving with how nonchalant he was with blood coating his features.
Nevertheless, the Captain was seemingly thanking the Crusader for doing whatever job he had set out to do.
It didn't take much thought to find out what it was when she saw the warp point that had been left dormant with the loss of Old Tristam lighting up upon connecting with its predecessor.
'Well damn, he killed the Wretched Queen.'
Staring at him in a new light, the man nonchalantly gestured behind him even as a droplet of rain hit his helm.
+++
Tree